Chapter 19. Miners' Radio Stations. a Unique Communication Experience from Bolivia Titulo Gumucio-Dagron, Alfonso

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Chapter 19. Miners' Radio Stations. a Unique Communication Experience from Bolivia Titulo Gumucio-Dagron, Alfonso Chapter 19. Miners’ radio stations. A unique communication experience from Bolivia Titulo Gumucio-Dagron, Alfonso - Autor/a; Autor(es) Media and Glocal Change: Rethinking Communication for Development En: Buenos Aires Lugar CLACSO, Consejo Latinoamericano de Ciencias Sociales Editorial/Editor 2005 Fecha Colección Lengua Aymara; Lengua Quechua; Participacion social; Comunicacion participativa; Temas Cambio social; Radio; Comunicacion; Mineros; Luchas sociales; Bolivia; Capítulo de Libro Tipo de documento "http://bibliotecavirtual.clacso.org.ar/clacso/coediciones/20100824074154/26Chapter1 URL 9.pdf" Reconocimiento-No comercial-Sin obras derivadas 2.0 Genérica Licencia http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/deed.es Segui buscando en la Red de Bibliotecas Virtuales de CLACSO http://biblioteca.clacso.edu.ar Consejo Latinoamericano de Ciencias Sociales (CLACSO) Conselho Latino-americano de Ciências Sociais (CLACSO) Latin American Council of Social Sciences (CLACSO) www.clacso.edu.ar Chapter 19 Miners’ radio stations A unique communication experience from Bolivia Alfonso Gumucio-Dagron Very little has been written about the Bolivian miners’ community radio sta- | 317 tions, and very late, at least in comparison to more recent experiences of partici- patory communication in other regions of the world1. The radio stations have been largely ignored, and I believe the main reason is that they had no institution- al ‘owner’. These days, we find that an institution or a program lies behind every single new project in the area of development communication and communica- tion for social change, be this an international NGO, a UN development organiza- tion or a government agency. I do not question the authenticity or independence of communication experiences that are protected and nourished within institu- tional frameworks, but it is definitely not the same thing to emerge genuinely from the grassroots as to be a project created with backup helping it to survive 1 Very little was published during most of the first 30 years of development of the miners’ radio stations, the decades that cover their most vital phase. A few articles were published in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s, written by Bolivians in Spanish (Lozada and Kuncar, 1983, and Gumucio, 1982) or, even earlier, in French (Gumucio, 1979). In 1983, Alfonso Gumucio-Dagron and Eduardo Barrios co-directed the first documentary film on the miners’ radio stations, with support from UNESCO. The first book, in Spanish, came out only in 1989: Las radios mineras de Bolivia, edited by Alfonso Gumucio-Dagron and Lupe Cajías. The book was one of the outcomes of the first international conference on the Bolivian miners’ radio stations, “Realidad y Futuro de las Radios Mineras en Bolivia”, organised by the Centro de Integración de Medios de Comunicación Alternativa (CIMCA), with support from UNESCO, in the emblematic and historic city of Potosí, in November 1988. This conference gathered both practitioners and academics. Alan O’Connor, who was among the first in the United States to write about this subject, attended the meeting. It took more than a decade for O’Connor to translate and edit his own book Community Radio in Bolivia - The Miners’ Radio Stations (Mellen, 2004), currently the only work in English on this seminal participatory communication experience originating in the highlands of Bolivia. Media and Glocal Change 318 | and become widely known. The miners’ radio stations did not have that backup, nor did they benefit from any publicity orchestrated by an institutional parent. That is one of the reasons why they are, or were, so unique. I cannot think of many other experiences that synthesize so well the most significant characteristics of participatory communication for social change: born out of the community itself, financed and managed by the community, gen- uinely participatory on a daily basis, well integrated into the social movement, with a wider than local impact without losing its local priorities. A snapshot of history The history of the Bolivian miners’ radio stations has been described elsewhere and a mere description would take up most of the space available for this text. For the purpose of this essay it may be enough to say that the origin of the stations goes back as far as 1949, or even 1947, if we include Radio Sucre, which was founded in the mining districts of Catavi and Siglo XX by high school teachers in Llallagua, the local town close to the two mining centers2. Second came La Voz del Minero (1949), this station set up by the miners themselves, which was founded in 1946 by the powerful Federación Sindical de Trabajadores Mineros de Bolivia (FSTMB). The first two radio stations were created amid considerable repression from autocratic and military governments struggling to retain power for a small ‘rosca’ (rich class), in a country where elections were decided by 10,000 voters, since the large majority of the population was excluded using the argument that only those who could read and write were qualified to vote. It was only after the triumph of the social uprising of April 19523 that the miners’ radio stations mush- roomed at the heart of the most important mining centers. When the Movimiento Nacionalista Revolucionario (MNR) came to power and nationalized the mining industry, miners felt the new ownership was an important step toward economic independence. As the years went by, and even though their social situation remained basically the same, mine workers became important political actors and the indisputable leaders of the social movement in Bolivia. Although the country’s roughly 30,000 miners represented less than 10% of the working class during the 1960s, their significance for the Bolivian economy was and had always been enor- mous, since mining products represented as much as 60% of total exports. At some point in the 1960s, every miners’ union in the highlands of Bolivia wanted to have its own radio station. During the 1950s, ‘60s and ‘70s, nearly thirty were created, managed and sustained by the workers themselves, who would donate a portion of their monthly wages to cover the operating costs. With few exceptions, all the staff were selected locally. Some of the announcers 2 Lozada, Fernando and Gridvia Kuncar refer to this short-lived station in “An historic experience of self- managed communication”, in Fernando Reyes Matta (ed.) Comunicación Alternativa y Búsquedas Democráticas (1983), Santiago, Chile: ILET/Friedrich Ebert Stiftung. 3 This resulted in the abolition of the army, the nationalization of private mining, the establishment of universal voting rights and agrarian reform. Alfonso Gumucio-Dagron who started very young at the microphone of a miners’ radio station later migrat- | 319 ed to the cities and became well-known journalists. Usually, the union would choose the local Secretary of Culture as director of the station. As Jorge Mansilla Torres recalls: “Who do the miners choose as Secretary of Culture? The most well- read person in the place, the most lettered. To put it in another way: the teacher”4. Sometimes, the announcers became as popular as the union leaders. Radio stations started airing community messages, or calling miners to union meetings, or airing those meetings in full length. People living in the min- ing camps knew they could use the microphone of the radio not only to request the music they wanted or to announce a sporting activity, but also to complain about the state-owned mining company’s abuses and denounce the precarious- ness of their living conditions. The stations quickly became the cultural, social and political center. Rather than going to the police with a complaint, people would go straight to the radio, even for matters involving family issues, such as “My hus- band is drinking too much and beats me”, or “My neighbor took my chickens”. Although in normal times the radio stations were important for the role they played in education, culture and community service, in times of political turmoil their importance extended beyond Bolivia’s borders. During the military coup of 1981, foreign correspondents stranded in Peru or Chile updated their news using the short-wave broadcasts of the miners’ radio stations, at a time when all the commercial media in the main cities had been shut down by the mil- itary. In case of a national emergency, the first thing workers and their families, and nearby peasants, would do, was rush to the radio station to protect it, because they knew that the first thing the army would attempt to do was to close the stations down. In those critical times, every housewife, student or worker would take turns at the constantly live microphone to tell listeners about how they were resisting. Eventually, all the radio stations were destroyed and closed down, but as soon as the first signs of democracy were in sight, the unions would place the reinstatement of their radio stations among their main demands. In terms of their historical context, of the development of local capac- ity and of the solidarity drive that animated all of them, of the use of appropriate technology, of the sense of ownership that was developed, of the generation of local content, of the strengthening of capacities of local staff, of their long histo- ry of 50 years, and of their impressive number at peak, for instance, these stations have no parallel with any other community radio story in the world. A unique example of participatory media Since most of the alternative media grassroots communication experiences that we know of originated under the tutorship of a formal institution (NGO, church, 4 Interviewed by Héctor Schmucler and Orlando Encinas, in Comunicación y Cultura No. 8, México, 1982. Jorge Mansilla Torres, born in Llallagua, started as a young announcer and later became director- founder of Radio Vanguardia in Colquiri, and a well-known journalist and poet in Bolivia and Mexico, where he lived in exile.
Recommended publications
  • Impact of Icts in Rural Areas (India) Phase II — Information Village Research Project
    Impact of ICTs in Rural Areas (India) Phase II — Information Village Research Project supported by International Development Research Centre (IDRC), Canada Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), Canada Terminal Report [2000-2004] Articles from MSSRF (Annexure 42] implemented by M S Swaminathan Research Foundation With minor editing this paperis appearing in Current Science, Vol. 87, No. 7, (10 Oct 2004). ICTs and Poverty Alleviation Subbiah Arunachlam M S Swaminathan Research Foundation Third Cross Street, TaramaniInstitutional Area, Chennai 600 113, India <arun©mssrf.res.in> The role information and communication technologies (ICTs) can play in poverty alleviation is discussed based largely on what has happened in the past six years in a cluster of ten villages in Pondicherry in southern India through the intervention of M S Swaminathan Research Foundation. If intelligently used ICTs can make a difference to the lives of the people. The paper concludes with a set of recommendations and action points for governments in developing countries, donor agenciesand non- governmental organizations involved in implementing micro level poverty alleviation programmes. ICT and development In recent years information and communication technologies (ICTs) have been deployed in numerous initiatives in rural communities in developing countries. Many world leaders, including UN Secretary General Mr Kofi Annan, have spoken about the tremendous potential of these new technologies to transformthe lives of the poor. "Groups as diverse as the United Nations, the G8 nations, Foundations, national, state and local governments, and private companies have seized upon the hope that the use of ICTs could enable even the poorest of developing nations to 'leapfrog' traditional problems of development like poverty, illiteracy, disease, unemployment, hunger, corruption, social inequalities so as to move rapidly into the modern Information Age," says Kenneth Keniston,1 Director of the MIT-India programme.
    [Show full text]
  • Redalyc.Alfonso Gumucio-Dagron Y Sus Vasos Comunicantes
    Chasqui. Revista Latinoamericana de Comunicación ISSN: 1390-1079 [email protected] Centro Internacional de Estudios Superiores de Comunicación para América Latina Ecuador Ayala Marín, Alexandra Alfonso Gumucio-Dagron y sus vasos comunicantes Chasqui. Revista Latinoamericana de Comunicación, núm. 116, 2011, pp. 5-8 Centro Internacional de Estudios Superiores de Comunicación para América Latina Quito, Ecuador Disponible en: http://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=16057420001 Cómo citar el artículo Número completo Sistema de Información Científica Más información del artículo Red de Revistas Científicas de América Latina, el Caribe, España y Portugal Página de la revista en redalyc.org Proyecto académico sin fines de lucro, desarrollado bajo la iniciativa de acceso abierto Recibido: setiembre 2011 Aprobado: noviembre 2011 Gumucio-Dagron y SUS vasos comunicantes Alexandra Ayala Marrn Ecuatoriana, periodista y comunicadora, diplomadade la EHESS, de París, Francia. Coordinadora del Area de Investigación del CIESPAL. [email protected] Resumen Resumo Entrevista al comunicólogo boliviano acerca de su Entrevista com o especialista em comunica~áo trayectoria personal y con énfasis en el concepto boliviano sobresua história pessoal, com enfas e no de comunicación parael desarrollo, áreaen la que conceito de comunicacáo parao desenvolvimento, Gumucio es experto. áreaonde perícia. Palabras clave: Comunicación para el desarrollo, Palavras-chave: Decomunicacáo parao comunicación alternativa. desenvolvimento, alternativo. Entonces, vamos a comenzar contándome tu Es que, leyendo su hoja de vida, me sorprende que historia': le digo a Alfonso Gumucio-Dagron, que está empezara en el cine. Me sorprende porque para mí era nuevamente en Quito luego de dos años, cuando en únicamente uno de los teóricos latinoamericanos -que 2009 vino a presentar su enorme obra, Antología de es bastante decir- en la materia sobre la que vino a comunicación para el cambio social (2008), y ahora, para disertar.
    [Show full text]
  • Marketing Represents Exactly the Opposite of What We Have Been
    The Overmarketing of Social Marketing By Alfonso Gumucio Dagron Social marketing targets individuals and expects individual responses, while development Are development communicators in communication addresses the community. Social developing countries willing to buy the "social marketing aims to change individual marketing" approach, which has penetrated so "behaviour" - another typical word, since the fast in many international development approach links advertising with the US school of programs? psychology known as behaviourism - The marketers of social marketing are trying persuading people to perform predetermined to convince everyone that it is the “new wave” actions. Development communication also aims of thought the "in" fashion in the development to change people, but through a process of communication field. But we in the Third World critical analysis of social reality. already have the expertise of being objects of There is only one way development advertising techniques and we believe that social communicators from the Third World and those marketing represents exactly the opposite of from industrialised countries can find common what we have been fighting for over the last 25 ground: exchanging experiences and knowing years: a communication approach that places more about each other's practice and theory. strength in the community and aims to change There are many ways to achieve this, beginning the passive receptor of messages into an active with a greater effort on the part of development communicator. communicators from the North to read the ideas Social marketing is not a new strategy. The and theories of development communicators in whole concept is borrowed from the advertising the South, since there are virtually no strategies of the 1950s, when consumer translations to English.
    [Show full text]
  • SABORES, SABERES. Comunicación Y Conocimientos En
    Sabores, saberes Comunicación y conocimientos en la cultura alimentaria Karina Herrera Miller Alfonso Gumucio Dagron Coordinadores Sabores, saberes Comunicación y conocimientos en la cultura alimentaria Esta publicación ha sido posible gracias al apoyo del Centro de Competencia en Comunicación para América Latina de la Fundación Friedrich Ebert, FES- COMUNICACIÓN el Centro de Investigaciones Interdisciplinarias en Ciencias y Humanidades (CEIICH) de la Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), y de la Universidad Autónoma de Coahuila (UAdeC), México. © Karina Herrera Miller / Alfonso Gumucio Dagron (coordinadores) © La propiedad intelectual de cada texto corresponde a sus autores © Plural editores, 2019 © Dibujos y tapa: Marcos Loayza Primera edición: septiembre 2019 DL: 4-1-2629-19 ISBN: 978-99954-1-941-7 Producción Plural editores Av. Ecuador 2337 esq. calle Rosendo Gutiérrez Teléfono: 2411018 / Casilla 5097 / La Paz e–mail: [email protected] / www.plural.bo Impreso en Bolivia Índice Preámbulo ......................................................................................... 9 Una especie de manifiesta sobre las relaciones entre comunicación y culturas alimentarias ..................................... 13 I Comunidades emergentes de conocimiento y resistencias culturales De memorias y soberanía. Un protocolo para la introspección retrospectiva alimentaria en la vida cotidiana Jorge A. González............................................................................... 19 Mientras unos quieren McDonald’s, otros desean quinua
    [Show full text]
  • Redalyc.Alfonso Gumucio-Dagron: Más Allá De La Euforia Tecnológica
    Chasqui. Revista Latinoamericana de Comunicación ISSN: 1390-1079 [email protected] Centro Internacional de Estudios Superiores de Comunicación para América Latina Ecuador Marques de Melo, José Alfonso Gumucio-Dagron: más allá de la euforia tecnológica Chasqui. Revista Latinoamericana de Comunicación, núm. 116, 2011, pp. 17-20 Centro Internacional de Estudios Superiores de Comunicación para América Latina Quito, Ecuador Disponible en: http://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=16057420003 Cómo citar el artículo Número completo Sistema de Información Científica Más información del artículo Red de Revistas Científicas de América Latina, el Caribe, España y Portugal Página de la revista en redalyc.org Proyecto académico sin fines de lucro, desarrollado bajo la iniciativa de acceso abierto Recibido: setiembre 2011 Aprobado: noviembre 2011 Gumucio-Dagron: más allá de la euforia tecnológica José Marques de Melo Director de la Cátedra Unesco de Comunicación de la Universidad Metodistade Sao Paulo. Resumen Resumo El autor presenta una síntesis del pensamiento del o autor apresenta uma síntese da pensamento e comunicador boliviano y su propuesta acerca de propostas sobre a comunicacáo para a mudanca la comunicación para el cambio social, partiendo social, do Alfonso Gumucio Dagron, baseada de la historia del pensamiento comunicacional na história do pensamento latino-americano de latinoamericano y ubicando al autor en la línea de comunicacáo e colocando o autor boliviano na tiempo de influencia y de evolución académica e linha do tempo da influencia e do desenvolvimento investigativa en América Latina. académico e de pesquisa na América Latina. Palabras clave: Alfonso Gurnucio, comunicación Pa/avras-chave: Alfonso Gumucio, comunicacáo e y cambio, cine boliviano, teatro popular, cambio mudanca, Bohviacinema, teatro popular, mudanca social.
    [Show full text]
  • Making Waves STORIES of PARTICIPATORY COMMUNICATION for SOCIAL CHANGE
    making waves STORIES OF PARTICIPATORY COMMUNICATION FOR SOCIAL CHANGE A REPORT TO THE ROCKEFELLER FOUNDATION BY ALFONSO GUMUCIO DAGRON FORWARD BY DENISE GRAY-FELDER Copyright © 2001 The Rockefeller Foundation. All rights reserved. Published in 2001 by The Rockefeller Foundation, 420 Fifth Avenue, New York,New York 10018-2702 Book Design: Landesberg Design Associates Cover Illustration: Cathie Bleck Gumucio Dagron, Alfonso Making waves: participatory communication for social change/ Alfonso Gumucio Dagron. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 0-89184-051-6 1. Social change—Cross-cultural studies. 2. Communication—Cross- cultural studies. 3. Radio—Social aspects—Case studies. 4. Theater—Social aspects—Case studies. 5. Television film—Social aspects—Case studies. 6. Internet—Social aspects—Case studies. I. Title. 303.4833 G974 2000 table of contents FOREWORD by Denise Gray-Felder 1 INTRODUCTION 5 CASE STORIES Radio Sutatenza Colombia 37 Miners’ Radio Stations Bolivia 43 Radio Huayacocotla Mexico 49 Radio Quillabamba Peru 55 CESPAC Peru 61 PRODERITH Mexico 67 Teatro Kerigma Colombia 73 Teatro La Fragua Honduras 79 Video SEWA India 85 Kayapo Video Brazil 91 TV Maxambomba Brazil 97 Radio Margaritas Mexico 103 Aarohan Street Theatre Nepal 109 CESPA Mali 115 Community Audio Towers Philippines 121 Kothmale Community Radio Sri Lanka 127 Teatro Trono Bolivia 133 Wan Smolbag Vanuatu, Solomon Islands 139 La Voz de la Comunidad Guatemala 145 Labor News Production Korea 151 Tambuli Philippines 157 Popular Theatre Nigeria 163 Radio Izcanal
    [Show full text]
  • World Bank Document
    40901 WORLD CONGRESS Public Disclosure Authorized ON COMMUNICATION FOR DEVELOPMENT Public Disclosure Authorized Lessons, Challenges, and the Way Forward Public Disclosure Authorized The Communication Initiative Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) The World Bank Public Disclosure Authorized WORLD CONGRESS ON COMMUNICATION FOR DEVELOPMENT WORLD CONGRESS ON COMMUNICATION FOR DEVELOPMENT Lessons, Challenges, and the Way Forward The Communication Initiative Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) The World Bank © 2007 The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development / The World Bank 1818 H Street NW Washington DC 20433 Telephone: 202-473-1000 Internet: www.worldbank.org E-mail: [email protected] All rights reserved 1 2 3 4 10 09 08 07 This volume is a product of the staff of The Communication Initiative, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development / The World Bank. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this volume do not necessarily reflect the views of the Executive Directors of The World Bank or the governments they represent. The World Bank does not guarantee the accuracy of the data included in this work. The bound- aries, colors, denominations, and other information shown on any map in this work do not imply any judgement on the part of The World Bank concerning the legal status of any territory or the endorsement or acceptance of such boundaries. Rights and Permissions The material in this publication is copyrighted. Copying and/or transmitting portions or all of this work without permission may be a violation of applicable law.
    [Show full text]
  • Making Waves Stories of Participatory Communication for Social Change
    Making Waves Stories of Participatory Communication for Social Change A Report to the Rockefeller Foundation By Alfonso Gumucio Dagron Forward by Denise Gray-Felder Copyright © 2001 The Rockefeller Foundation. All rights reserved. Published in 2001 by The Rockefeller Foundation 420 Fifth Avenue New York, New York 10018-2702 Book Design: Landesberg Design Associates Cover Illustration: Cathie Bleck Gumucio Dagron, Alfonso Making waves: participatory communication for social change/ Alfonso Gumucio Dagron. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 0-89184-051-6 1. Social change — Cross-cultural studies. 2. Communication — Cross-cultural studies. 3. Radio — Social aspects — Case studies. 4. Theater — Social aspects — Case studies. 5. Television film — Social aspects — Case studies. 6. Internet — Social aspects — Case studies. I. Title. 303.4833 G974 2000 1 Table of Contents Foreword by Denise Gray-Felder Introduction CASE STORIES Radio Sutatenza, Colombia Miners’ Radio Stations, Bolivia Radio Huayacocotla, Mexico Radio Quillabamba, Peru CESPAC, Peru PRODERITH, Mexico Teatro Kerigma, Colombia Teatro La Fragua, Honduras Video SEWA, India Kayapo Video, Brazil TV Maxambomba, Brazil Radio Margaritas, Mexico Aarohan Street Theatre, Nepal CESPA, Mali Community Audio Towers, Philippines Kothmale Community Radio, Sri Lanka Teatro Trono, Bolivia Wan Smolbag, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands La Voz de la Comunidad, Guatemala Labor News Production, Korea Tambuli, Philippines Popular Theatre, Nigeria Radio Izcanal, El Salvador Soul City, South Africa
    [Show full text]
  • The One to Watch Radio, New Icts and Interactivity
    The One to Watch Radio, New ICTs and Interactivity Edited by Bruce Girard In collaboration with The Friedrich Ebert Foundation (FES) Geneva office and The Communication for Development Group Research, Extension and Training Division Sustainable Development Department FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS Rome, 2003 The One to Watch – Radio, New ICTs and Interactivity The designations employed and the presentation of material in this information product do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. All rights reserved. Reproduction and dissemination of material in this information product for educational or other non-commercial purposes are authorized without any prior written permission from the copyright holders provided the source is fully acknowledged. Reproduction of material in this information product for resale or other commercial purposes is prohibited without written permission of the copyright holders. Applications for such permission should be addressed to the Chief, Publishing Management Service, Information Division, FAO, Viale delle Terme di Caracalla, 00100 Rome, Italy or by e-mail to [email protected] © FAO 2003 Electronic Edition Version 1.0 Cover graphic: Claudia Rodríguez Page numbering in this electronic version does not correspond to the print version of the book. To order a copy of the print edition, contact the Research, Extension and Training Division, Sustainable Development Department, FAO, Viale delle Terme di Caracalla, 00100 Rome, Italy. Fax: +39 06 705 3801 – Email: [email protected] - ii - Table of Contents Foreword ..................................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Approaches to Development Communication, Paris: UNESCO
    About the Authors Rachel Carnegie Rachel Carnegie is a consultant on life skills education, health promotion and participatory communication. She has worked in these fields for the past 16 years in South Asia and Africa. She was responsible for the creative development of the Meena Communication Initiative in South Asia, and core adviser to the Sara Communication Initiative in Africa. Email: [email protected] Nico Carpentier Nico Carpentier (PhD, University of Antwerp, Belgium) is a media sociologist working at the Free University of Brussels. His research interests are mainly focused on the application of discourse theory in (media)domains as sexuality, conflict, journalism, (political and cultural) participation and democracy. He has recently completed his Ph.D. on ‘the construction of participation in television talk shows’. His publications include the articles Images of Prostitutes. The Struggle for the Subject Position (1999, in Dutch), Management of Voices. Power and Participation in North Belgian Audience Discussion Programmes (2000); The Identity of the Television Audience (2000, in Dutch) and Managing Audience Participation (2001). Email: [email protected] Gary Coldevin in Collaboration with the Communication for Development Group of the FAO Gary Coldevin (PhD, University of Washington, Seattle) is a full- time international consultant specializing in development communication and distance education. Previously, he was a Professor for twenty-five years in the Graduate Programme in Educational Technology, Concordia University, Montreal. He has collaborated with FAO, principally as a communication campaign specialist, on several assignments since 1983. His research interests are focussed on the design, delivery, and quantitative evaluation of a mix of low- to high-end technologies for development, and emerging best practices.
    [Show full text]
  • The Lucky Cloverleaf: Four Facets of Communication for Development and Sustainable Social Change
    The lucky cloverleaf: Four facets of communication for development and sustainable social change Alfonso Gumucio Dagron There are approximately ten thousand three-leaf clovers for each four-leaf clover. Legend or superstition says that each leaf in a four-leaf clover has a meaning: the first is hope, the second is faith, the third is love and the fourth is, quite obviously, luck, a value added. The image and hope-loaded symbolism of the cloverleaf somehow correlates with Amartya Sen’s four reasons why communication is essential for human development: first, the ability to communicate contributes to well-being and the quality of human life; second, it has an important protective function in giving voice to the neglected and the disadvantaged; third, mass media has a function in disseminating information and allowing critical scrutiny; and fourth, mass media has a crucial role in value formation through open public discourse enabling public adaptation to change. Communication needs all four to contribute to value formation for sustainable development and social change. Each facet may become an important strength or a determinant weakness. Ensuring that the four leaves are in place may be the best way to support sustainable processes of communication where peoples voices are heard and communities are empowered. The four issues are inter-related on a common ground: the exercise of the right to communicate is central to development in freedom. Much has been written about the relation between the ability to communicate and the potential for social development, and again, along with Amartya Sen we believe that: “Public debates and discussions, permitted by political freedoms and civil rights, can also play a major part in the formation of values.
    [Show full text]
  • Take Five: a Handful of Essentials for Icts in Development
    TAKE FIVE: A HANDFUL OF ESSENTIALS FOR ICTS IN DEVELOPMENT ALFONSO GUMUCIO DAGRON* INTRODUCTION The point of the lance New Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), especially the Internet, have shown a very rapid development during the past ten years. Internet users have been duplicating every year since 1995. No other information and communication technology in the past has, by comparison, developed so fast. Radio took several decades to be adopted in the isolated and poor rural areas of the world until it became the most important means of communication for many marginalized communities. Television is still struggling to reach the periphery, through a combination of cable and an array of satellites, although portable video has proved its efficacy for educational purposes. Internet, in its own right, has become fashionable and its receiving an impressive support both from the private and the public sector, to become the “point of the lance” of a technological revolution that also claims to be a social revolution. We will see in what extent. * Alfonso Gumucio Dagron is a development communication specialist, filmmaker and writer from Bolivia, with experience in Africa, Asia, Latin America and The Caribbean. He is the author of various studies on film and communication, and has also published several books of his poetry and narrative. Among his books: “Making Waves: Stories of Participatory Communication for Social Change” (2001); “Popular Theatre” (1994); “Conservación, Desarrollo y Comunicación” (1990); “Comunicación Alternativa y Cambio Social” (1990); “Las Radios Mineras de Bolivia” (1989). 2/ ALFONSO GUMUCIO-DAGRON Symbiosis The most important and interesting issue relating to the rapid expansion of new information and communication technologies in Third World Countries1 is not Internet by itself, but the potential of its interaction with other electronic media, such as radio and eventually television.
    [Show full text]